Team Building Through Team Video Games: Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: Organizations of all types require the use of teams. Poor team member engagement costs billions of US dollars annually. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explain how team building can be accomplished with team video gaming based on a team cohesion model enhanced by team flow theory. METHODS: In this controlled experiment, teams were randomly assigned to a team video gaming treatment or a control treatment. Team productivity was measured during both pretreatment and posttreatment team tasks. After the pretest, teams who were involved in the team video gaming treatment competed against other teams by playing the Halo or Rock Band video game for 45 minutes. After the pretest, teams in the control treatment worked alone for 45 minutes. Then, all teams completed the posttest team activity. This same experimental protocol was conducted on 2 different team tasks. RESULTS: For both tasks, teams in the team video gaming treatment increased their productivity significantly more (F(1)=8.760, P=.004) on the posttest task than teams in the control treatment. Our flow-based theoretical model explained team performance improvement more than twice as well (R(2)=40.6%) than prior related research (R(2)=18.5%). CONCLUSIONS: The focused immersion caused by team video gaming increased team performance while the enjoyment component of flow decreased team performance on the posttest. Both flow and team cohesion contributed to team performance, with flow contributing more than cohesion. Team video gaming did not increase team cohesion, so team video gaming effects are independent of cohesion. Team video gaming is a valid practical method for developing and improving newly formed teams.